Workplace culture helps establish a company’s identity. It can also help empower employees to do their best work and get the entire team on the same page about organizational goals. While there are several types of methodologies to choose from, one of the most popular is learning culture.
As the name suggests, a learning culture values and encourages professional development and knowledge-sharing at all levels of an organization. And since some studies show a whopping 76% of employees want more professional development opportunities, it can be essential to empowering existing team members — and attracting talented job seekers. But what if you are an employer who is getting familiar with what a learning culture is for the first time?
In this guide, we’ll discuss what to look for when setting up a learning culture, its impact on an organization, occasional roadblocks, and guidance on how to get the ball rolling.
Key components of a learning culture
Also sometimes referred to as development culture or feedback culture, the definition of learning culture doesn’t quite capture what it really means to introduce one at a company. Rather, it’s easier to understand what it can mean for a workforce by familiarizing yourself with the core characteristics.
Psychological safety
Employees should feel safe taking risks and embracing change. Failure is a part of life, and a learning culture recognizes that not every idea will succeed. That kind of psychological safety can yield encouraging results. For instance, employees will be more willing to think outside the box and feel recognized and valued for their contributions in the workplace. They’ll have the confidence to learn new skills and invest in their development.
Open communication
In a learning culture, no idea is a bad one. Everyone is encouraged to share ideas and collaborate toward common goals. That kind of interdepartmental collaboration can break down knowledge barriers and allow more individuals to solve problems for themselves. As such, a learning culture can help remove bottlenecks, streamline operations, and improve organizational efficiency across many teams.
Continuous learning
A learning culture values continuous learning and makes it easier for employees to access professional development courses and training. Employees are encouraged to invest in themselves and ask for the things they want. For example, if an employee wants to learn SQL, a company that adopts a learning culture may provide training to do just that.
In a learning culture, an organization may offer professional development as a perk or part of a total rewards package. Whether it’s an allowance for online courses, access to e-books, or even support for degree programs, continuous learning is a core tenet of a learning culture.
Innovation
Self-improvement is everything, and that goes for the entire organization. Individuals are encouraged to learn, develop, and offer innovative solutions to business challenges. That makes learning cultures particularly valuable in innovation-centric industries like tech and healthcare.
Many companies and industries deal with complex situations that only sometimes have a straightforward path forward. In workplaces like these, innovation is the name of the game because there are no obvious solutions — any idea is at least worth trying and testing once.
Now that we better understand what generally goes into making up a learning culture, let’s explore why some employers make this a part of their work environment.
The benefits of a learning culture
Like all other organizational cultures, a strong learning culture has several key benefits for both the organization and its employees.
Employee engagement
A learning culture values contributions from all over the organization, encourages employees to reflect on their work, and fosters an environment for them to actively participate in their development. All of this can improve employee engagement. After all, employees who know that they’re valued are much more likely to feel connected to their work.
According to Gallup data, engaged employees are up to 38% more productive than their disengaged counterparts. So, a learning culture can increase engagement, and their productivity and efficiency may also rise when employees have learned valuable new skills.
Retention rates
As we noted at the outset, employees want professional development opportunities. When organizational learning is a priority, it can improve retention. That’s a benefit that pays dividends.
Additionally, 87% of HR managers feel retention is essential to their strategy because it reduces costs and avoids productivity loss. Long-term employees also tend to do better work than new ones. When you factor those considerations together, retention often leads to higher profits.
Enhanced performance
When it’s safe to take risks and make mistakes (that individuals can take lessons from), employees are more willing to push the boundaries and develop innovative solutions to problems. Moreover, companies that invest in professional development can close skill gaps, improve productivity, and create a more efficient, capable workforce — not to mention the additional benefits of an engaged workforce.
Strategies and best practices for cultivating a learning culture
Creating a strong company culture requires complete buy-in from the entire organization. It’s also not a “set it and forget” proposition and needs nurturing, attention from organizational leaders, and a transparent commitment to values that show employees that you’re genuinely invested in making it successful. One of the key HR basics for SMBs is to stay consistent.
All of that said, these are some important strategies to consider when creating a learning culture:
- Empowering employees: Always encourage employees to take risks, apply new knowledge and skills to their work, and give them a say in shaping team and organizational strategy.
- Providing accessible learning resources: Learning cultures are all about organizational learning. When employees develop new skills, they’re an asset to the company. So whether you offer an allowance for online courses or send employees to in-person training opportunities, it’s crucial that they feel that if they want to learn something new, they can do it.
- Encourage risk-taking: Rather than punishing employees for occasionally missing the mark, applaud their willingness to take risks. You never know when the next risk may pay dividends.
- Celebrating learning achievements: Recognition is a crucial component of any organizational culture. Suppose learning is truly important to your organization. In that case, it’s vital that you incentivize and reward employees who take it upon themselves to learn skills the company lacks or earn necessary credentials for certain roles.
- Fostering collaboration: A key component of a growth mindset is encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration across teams and departments. Transparent organizations don’t let knowledge get so deeply siloed that multiple processes develop for roughly the same purpose.
- Teach managers how to coach and be effective leaders: Leading doesn’t come naturally to everybody. As such, it’s important to invest in training for managers to help their team members build confidence and competence.
- Evaluate performance based on learning: Different organizations have different philosophies on performance reviews. In a learning culture, an employee’s pursuit of knowledge should factor into their performance evaluations. Employees and managers should reflect on their work, identify areas for growth, and develop tangible learning avenues to improve future performance.
- Aligning learning with organizational goals: Whether your company is adopting a new technology and needs expert administrators, expanding into a new market, or something else, every organizational goal presents learning opportunities.
With some guidance on how to set up a learning culture, let’s touch on some potential obstacles to look out for.
Challenges in developing a learning culture
Like any major business initiative, developing a learning culture comes with its own set of potential roadblocks to be aware of.
Resistance to change
Implementing a new culture in an existing organization is always difficult when employees are resistant to change. This can be especially prominent in a learning culture, when employees are suddenly expected to take a much more active role in their own development. Yes, the organization will invest in employees, but employees are also expected to take advantage of these new opportunities, think outside the box, develop new skills, and reflect on their work through a learning paradigm.
If things were less formalized before, you may experience pushback or confusion when setting this up.
Resource allocation
An important component of a learning culture is the investment in human capital. That can put a strain on both human and financial resources. A strong learning culture has strong feedback and evaluation loops, putting more demands on managers to actively look for ways for their direct reports to grow and develop. It also requires the organization to be ready to invest real dollars in courses, training, or even degree programs for top talent.
Lack of leadership support
A constant risk for any workplace culture: if leaders aren’t willing to buy in, you can’t expect employees to, either. Living by a company’s values isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but employees look to leaders to lead. If they can’t proactively assess their own work and find ways to learn and improve, then why should anyone else?
Start fostering a learning culture in your organization
In many cases, human capital is a company’s most important asset. A learning culture is designed to invest wholeheartedly in that asset to get the most out of everyone. Not only can that increase productivity and efficiency, but it can lead to more engaged employees who want to stick around for the long haul. If you want to keep your best talent and help them do their best work, a learning culture is a great way to go about it.
Best of luck as you decide the next steps for empowering your team — whatever the path you choose.
